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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | YA Fic Cohn, R. 2012 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Elysia is created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen-year-old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of a teenage clone. She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to exist.
Elysia's purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection. Even the air induces a strange, euphoric high, which only the island's workers--soulless clones like Elysia--are immune to.
At first, Elysia's life is idyllic and pampered. But she soon sees that Demesne's human residents, who should want for nothing, yearn. But for what, exactly? She also comes to realize that beneath the island's flawless exterior, there is an undercurrent of discontent among Demesne's worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care--so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia's mind?
If anyone discovers that Elysia isn't the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When her one chance at happiness is ripped away with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she's always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive.
The first in a dazzlingly original science fiction series from best-selling author Rachel Cohn, Beta is a haunting, unforgettable story of courage and love in a corrupted world. Praise for Beta : "A terrific premise that is equally well executed...Readers can only hope [the sequel] will be as thrilling as this series kickoff." -- Los Angles Times
Author Notes
Rachel Cohn was born on December 14, 1968 in Silver Spring Maryland. She attended Barnard College and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science intending to be a journalist. Instead she moved to San Francisco and began working at a law firm and writing. After moving back to New York City, her title Gingerbread was published. It was followed by several other books including: The Steps, Shrimp, Two Steps Forward, You Know Where to Find Me and Beta.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-In the aftermath of global environmental shifts and a series of devastating Water Wars, a handful of the wealthiest people retreats to an exclusive island paradise where everything from the surrounding waters to the air quality is controlled. In Demense, soulless human clones replicated from the recently deceased serve the elite. Though told that they do not feel and despite being programmed to serve via imbedded data chips, the clones, inevitably, do experience feelings and rebel. Elysia is the first teenage clone-a Beta. Desperate to prove her worth and remain with her family, she represses her burgeoning feelings until she falls in love with another Beta masquerading as a human. Before long, the two begin to plot their escape to freedom on the Mainland. Because Elysia is a clone with a data chip (albeit a censored one) but no experience, her first-person narration gives a rather limited perspective on the whole sci-fi world Cohn has created. It allows for a complex setting without the need for much explanation or strict world-defining parameters. Still, the easy reading level but mature subject matter gives the book appeal to older teens with lower comprehension skills. The action-packed conclusion-thrilling if plausible only within the science-fiction genre-sets the stage for a sequel.-Nicole Politi, The Ocean County Library, Lavallette, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this kickoff to a planned four-book series, Elysia is a beautiful teenage clone bought as a companion to a wealthy family living on the exclusive island of Demesne on an Earth that is recovering from ecological disaster and global warfare. Though Elysia initially believes she has no free will, she discovers a taste for human foods like macaroni and cheese and chocolate-and, more importantly, begins to feel emotions like attraction, worry, and rage. She also has mysterious memories of the human girl from whom she was cloned, but keeps her discoveries secret, for fear of being marked a Defect. Cohn (coauthor of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) describes Elysia's luxurious world completely and persuasively, hinting that social justice themes may escalate in subsequent books; Elysia's evolution from robotic to real is similarly believable, as is her increasing desire for freedom. However, characters' widespread use of 21st-century slang and idioms distracts from the futuristic setting, and readers may be overwhelmed by the dizzying acceleration of events and revelations in the final chapters, which pave the way for the next installment. Ages 14-up. Agent: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, William Morris Endeavor. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
For the super-rich, the good life doesn't get much better than the lush island haven of Demesne. Its bioengineered ocean "ripples in patented violet crests" and melts off those unwanted pounds with a single dip. The oxygen-enriched air makes breathing a luxurious pleasure, "like having warm honey trickling sweetly down your throat." And to top it all off, there's a staff of human clones to cater to every need. What's not to like? Even Elysia, a new, experimental teenage clone, thinks she's in paradise -- at first. Purchased as a surrogate daughter for the governor's wife, Elysia lives a privileged life, eating with the family, swimming in their pool, hanging out with their eighteen-year-old son and his friends. But as she navigates her way through life as a teenager and a clone, Elysia mulls over why words like insurrection aren't in her language database. She also worries she may be a Defect when she discovers that, unlike other clones, she has a sense of taste and -- even more troubling -- memories. From page one, Cohn's sci-fi coming-of-age story is riveting, and the sense of place she's crafted is remarkably potent. Her writing, however, can be uneven; Elysia, at various times, comes across as corny, melodramatic, and stilted. Most readers, though, won't mind, and after the cliffhanger ending they'll be counting the days until Beta's sequel arrives. tanya d. auger (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When humans live in paradise, the servants must be manufactured--but are they still people? Elysia is born fully formed, a gorgeous, fuchsia-eyed 16-year-old cloned from a dead human progenitor, her First. On Demesne, an idyllic island, the humans are socialites and surfers, with emotionless clones to serve their every whim. Elysia doesn't feel emotionless, but then, she is a Beta, one of the first of an experimental new line of teenage clones; maybe she's defective. Bought to be a companion to the wife of the island's governor, Elysia finds dark undercurrents among the theoretically perfectly happy humans, but she's too self-centered to care all that much. Instead, she's more concerned with the dreamy human boy she's somehow falling for, as well as the memories of her First she knows she's not supposed to have. Elysia's robotic nature is inconsistent: She sometimes uses metaphors only to misunderstand similar terminology with humorous literalness soon thereafter. Her teenage idiom could be attributed to programmed adolescence, but it works less well for the adult clone who declares "Bummer!" in a training video or the bored human socialite who whines "Bo-o-o-ring!" The childish language and narrative outlook result in a disturbing if effective dissonance with eventual sexual violence. Though neither the villains nor the heroes make particularly sensible choices, the cliffhanger ending will still lure some into the promised sequel. (Science fiction. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Popular author Cohn's latest book is a foray into science fiction and the start of a series. In the future, after devastating Water Wars, wealthy and powerful people have created the paradise island of Demesne, where even the air is enhanced to be euphoric. The cloned workers who serve there are soulless entities who experience neither emotion nor sensation. The Beta, Elysia, is one of the first teen clones created, and she is purchased by the wife of Demesne's CEO after their oldest daughter leaves for college. Stunningly beautiful and athletic, Elysia has only fleeting memories of her First, the dead girl she is cloned from. The story is most successful when focused on Elysia's awakening, her guileless reporting of the world around her, and her discovery that she can feel, taste, and love. The science of the science fiction isn't well supported, creating some shaky world building that's weakened further by unconvincing plot twists. Still, the premise is intriguing and fans of Cohn's books may find plenty to enjoy. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Cohn's large following will be eager to dive into the author's first foray into sf.--Rutan, Lynn Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
ONE of the many pleasures of reading dystopian novels is encountering a different but recognizable world, and then uncovering clues to how things ended up this way and relishing the sense of discovery. Two new dystopian novels not only explore such alternative realms and the societies that populate them, but also probe the smaller worlds of human bodies and the souls that inhabit them. Both Rachel Cohn's "Beta" and Kat Zhang's "What's Left of Me" offer meticulously crafted settings and unusual characters while posing fascinating questions about the nature of body and soul. Cohn, the author of many young adult novels (including "Cupcake" and "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," written with David Levithan), creates a lush and soporific world in "Beta." The island of Demesne, formed especially as a playground and residence for the extremely wealthy, is saturated in oxygenrich air and surrounded by the sea of Io, which "ripples in patented violet crests, and offers a totally transformative experience." Demesne is tropical, decadent and intoxicating - paradise indeed. By contrast, in "What's Left of Me," by the first-time author Zhang, the action takes place in a world that feels worn around the edges; the town where it is set, "known for absolutely nothing." Much of the novel occurs in an institution rife with all the usual accouterments: "white walls, the tiled floor, the metal-framed beds and thin pillows." Although their respective worlds are different, the main characters (Elysia in "Beta" and Eva in "What's Left of Me") share the knowledge that the physical bodies they inhabit are not entirely their own. Sixteen-year-old Elysia is a clone - her body is identical to that of someone who died, and she retains some of the memories of her progenitor. She is considered inferior in intelligence to humans, an object available for her owner's purchase and pleasure because she doesn't "carry the burden of a heavy soul." Eva's problem, in contrast, is too many souls. Like others in their society, Eva and her sister, Addie, "were born into the same body, our souls' ghostly fingers entwined before we gasped our very first breath." During childhood a "settling" is meant to take place, with the dominant soul assuming control and the recessive soul disappearing altogether. Addie and Eva's great secret is that Eva (assumed by everyone to be the recessive soul) didn't go away. The sisters love each other, but they also both want a chance to control their shared physical self. Here lies the true strength of Zhang's novel. The push-and-pull conflict between Addie and Eva is easily recognizable, particularly for teenagers. Who doesn't want to be alone sometimes? Who doesn't feel a deep sense of fear when the loss of a trusted companion - even in a contentious relationship - looms? NEITHER Cohn nor Zhang shies away from challenging readers' conceptions about the body found in our own society (and taken to the extreme in ones they've created). Both Elysia and Eva are in peril because neither is perceived to have any real right to her body. In "Beta," Elysia is purchased by her owners and the violent, sexual implications of that purchase are front and center in the narrative, with many characters using her for their own purposes and pleasure. As Elysia notes: "They don't just think they own me. They do own me. This is a fact." In "What's Left of Me," when outsiders begin to suspect that Eva is still inside, they are determined to destroy her. Eva doesn't want to vanish. As she puts it: "Though I'd been told my entire short life that it was only natural for the recessive soul to fade away, I didn't want to go." Both Elysia and Eva desperately want to inhabit and assert control of their own bodies. The same goes for their souls. Indoctrinated to believe it's impossible for a clone to have a soul, Elysia nonetheless begins to suspect there may be more to her than just her body. Eva, too, wonders who, and what, she really is. And if she is her own entity, can she extricate what she wants to feel from a sister with whom she is necessarily and deeply intertwined? Cohn and Zhang have each created intriguing settings in which the reader is easily and totally immersed. But the true discoveries of the novels are affecting portraits of their main characters. Both Elysia and Eva put into words a struggle relevant to young women in our own time and place - the complexity and importance of claiming those essential personal qualities that matter most. Ally Condie's novel "Reached," the conclusion of her Matched trilogy, is out this month.